"Roboy's main technical innovation is a tendon-driven design that mimics the human muscular system. Instead of whirring motors in the joints like most robots, he has around 70 imitation muscles, each containing motors that wind interconnecting tendons. Consequently, his movements will be much smoother and less robotic."

But the really interesting idea is that they're not setting out to reproduce humanity. Not yet.

As Roboy's parent-in-chief, Rolf Pfeifer says "One of the goals is for (it) to be a messenger of a new generation of robots that will interact with humans in a friendly way."

At the root of his design is a philosophy that our empathy for a robot increases the less human it looks.